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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

As Garin Hughes picks through his school-lunch burrito and unidentifiable apple-pear dessert, he has a secret. Hidden underneath the eighth-grader's right leg is a chocolate cookie in shrink-wrapped plastic. That's for dessert. In the past, his parents had no clue when he bought a treat at school. Now, thanks to a new school-lunch monitoring system, they can check over the Internet and learn about that secret cookie.

But my question is why doesn't the parent just ask the child what they ate and the child tell them? Why go through all the trouble and expense of spying on them? Simple. The children don't respect their parents or their money enough to do what is right and the parents don't trust the children to tell them the truth. (What a great relationship.) So instead, we go to these lengths and spend more money to find out what we already know. Children are spending their lunch money on JUNK FOOD! What a revelation! Now that parents have proof....will they stop giving them the money?Here's a portion from my article Outsourcing Parenthood that seems to apply here.

We want the schools to provide nurtritious lunches without ever thinking we should pack the child one ourselves. (snip)

When I was growing up we all went home for lunch. Then in the schools began to take on that responsibility. The parents were thankful. Then the schools began to provide clinics. The parents were thankful. Then the schools began to teach health. The parents were thankful. The schools began to teach sex ed. The parents were thankful. The schools began to parent for them. The parents were thankful..